WESSON — Like all high school football programs, the WessonCobras are using the summer months to get into shape for preseasonpractice in early August.

The Cobras meet three days a week on Monday, Tuesday andThursday. Players can come either at the 6 a.m. or 6 p.m.sessions

“We lift for 45 minutes to an hour,” said Wesson head footballcoach Tommy Clopton. “We do running about 20 to 30 minutes. We doplyometrics – agility drills.

“They will lift and then they’ll go out on the field later.”

With various summer camps and family vacations going on, someplayers are unable to make all the workouts. There are a fewplayers who have summer jobs.

“We have a lot of young kids who have jumped in (workouts),”explained Clopton. “You have conflicts during the summer. Theplayers here are the ones that are working hard.”

Clopton finished spring practice with 52 players and he hopes tosee them all come out for the football season..

The workouts have been averaging 38 players a day.

One of the top returnees is senior linebacker Beau Wilson who isenjoying the summer workouts. He was one of the top tacklers in thearea and was named to The DAILY LEADER’s 2006 All-Area FootballTeam.

“We’ve had better attendance,” said Wilson. “We’re strong andwe’re getting stronger.”

Senior Brady Knight echoed Wilson’s sentiments. “It (workouts)gets us in shape for football. Overall, we’re gettingstronger.”

Matt Smith, a junior. also agreed. “It (weightlifting) helps usa lot.”

The younger players are working hard to replace thegraduates.

‘We are looking to get stronger and bigger for this year’sfootball team,” explained sophomore Brandon Bland.

Langston Berry, a junior, was working on his speed. “I’m workingon my legs. I want to get faster.”

As a whole, the freshmen are taking the workouts seriously.

“I wanted to get my strength up,” said freshman KevinThedford.

Wesson kicks off its 2007 football season on Friday, Aug. 3,hosting the Prentiss Bulldogs.